This is Eowyn's birth story, submitted by Asheya Hennessey, the founder of Yukoner's for Funded Midwifery. It's long and detailed!
I am writing Eowyn’s birth story on April 2, 2008, and she is right here with me sleeping in the sling. Eowyn’s birth story starts with the choices I made about my prenatal care and where I wanted to give birth. I chose to have a home birth with a midwife as my health care professional, Christina Kaiser.
I had mildly painful contractions on Wednesday night, and during the morning on Thursday, March 20. I let Eric know. At about 11 am I started nursing Elias, as he had hurt himself and needed comforting. While he was breastfeeding I had some more strongly painful contractions, but they were manageable lying down, and I decided to let him continue nursing. He nursed for about twenty to thirty minutes. As soon as I stood up from nursing him I felt a gush, and went straight to the bathroom. There on my underwear was a huge blob of bloody something, and I had a lot of blood that was going into the toilet. I felt calm but excited – this was definitely happening! I called out to Eric, who was working from home, “I think my water broke!” He came in to look, and of course Elias was there too. Eric brought me the phone and I called Christina. I didn’t remember what my mucus plug had looked like with Elias, but I thought this was rather bloody. When I told her that the blood was bright red, she told me she would be there in an hour, and that I should feel for the baby moving and watch for any gushes of bright red blood. If the baby moved I should call her, and if I started bleeding I should call her. At this point I could blot up blood on the toilet paper, but I wasn’t actually bleeding into the toilet.
I spent an anxious twenty minutes lying on the couch waiting for the baby to move. Finally, I felt something! Just a gentle movement low in my belly, but definitely a movement. I called Christina, and a few moments later felt a little more activity. Having felt the baby move helped me to be calm while I waited for Christina to arrive. I felt anxious about the blood, but knew Christina was on her way.
By the time Christina arrived the fluid I could wipe on toilet paper was pink, not red. I had saved the bloody blob in a jar, and Christina confirmed that it was my mucus plug. She said it was the bloodiest mucus plug she had ever seen. There was a lot of blood in the toilet, but I was not still actively bleeding, and Christina’s presence helped me to feel reassured. She also confirmed that my water had broken, and smelled the fluid on a pad, telling me it had a somewhat sweet smell. I couldn’t smell it, really, but I was glad she could. At this point I was having some mild contractions, which I couldn’t feel at all unless I was lying down. Christina stayed for about an hour, asking questions, taking my blood pressure, listening to the baby’s heartbeat, and giving instructions and information. She also brought in all of her equipment for the home birth and showed us what was in her kit, which included all of her emergency supplies (such as pitocin and oxygen masks for mom and baby) as well as basics for the birth (such as sterile scissors and clamps for the cord).
I remember when she asked me how I felt, I told her that I felt pretty normal, which I thought was strange since my water had broken. She told us that after the water breaks labour usually starts within 24 hours, but it can be as long as three days. She said I should only dab, not wipe, when I went to the bathroom, to try to keep as sterile an environment around my vagina as possible, to prevent infection.
I called my mom to let her know that my water had broken and that labour could start anytime, since she would be coming over to look after Elias during the labour and birth. She dropped by later in the afternoon with some more sheets from the Thrift Store and some grocery items, such as green grapes. She also brought me a dozen red tulips, which were absolutely gorgeous! I kept in touch with Christina by phone, and let her know that nothing had changed.
All day Thursday I tried to rest and eat as much as I could, since I knew I would need energy for the birth. The contractions were still mild, but even though I didn’t feel much pain I still felt a little worn out from them. What does that song say? “Waiting is the hardest part.” At one point on Thursday evening I remember I was lying down, trying to rest, and I just felt so lost. Birth is an uncontrollable event, and I didn’t know what was going to happen when. We went for a walk as a family at about 9:30pm, and I hoped that this might help speed up contractions and get things going. In fact, the opposite happened! My contractions slowed down to about every 10 minutes. My sister Emily came over and brought the movie “Enchanted,” which she had just bought and which I hadn’t seen yet. I sat on the birthing ball, and we only watched part of the movie as we were all getting tired. I went to bed at around 11:30 pm, and woke up every half hour to an hour to go the bathroom. I could feel the contractions, but was able to get back to sleep.
At 3 am on what was now the morning of Friday, March 21, I woke up with contractions that were more intense and I knew I couldn’t sleep through. I got up, had a bowel movement, poured myself a big glass of apple juice, got a bowl of chocolate chip mint ice cream, and went downstairs to see if I could watch some of a movie. I turned on the little white Christmas lights that we had set up in the rec room, and put the tulips on top of the dryer. I watched all of 30 seconds of “Enchanted” and realized that it was only making things worse. I decided to wake up Eric, since I wanted some company. I went back upstairs, and at this point had to stop and breathe through contractions while I was leaning against the wall. I woke Eric up around 3:30 am, and called Christina to ask her to come around 3:45 am. At this point my contractions were about 3 minutes apart, lasting about 45 seconds, and I had to stop and breathe through them.
Eric put the plastic on the futon, and made the bed with the sheets I had bought at the thrift store. When I had a contraction he would stop and put his hand on my shoulder. With the presence of his hand on my shoulder I would feel myself relax. I tried to sit on the birthing ball, but it wasn’t working for me the way it had with Elias’ birth, probably because my water had broken so there was more pressure. Eric started pumping up the birthing pool (an inflatable kiddie pool from Canadian Tire!).
Christina arrived around 4:15 am. I was managing a lot of my contractions by leaning against the washing machine, making low moaning noises, and trying to breathe deeply and relax. I would also move my hips and bend my knees during a contraction. Christina started helping to pump up the tub. *** Stopped writing and am now starting again on June 22, 2008. I am referring to Christina’s record of events now as well as my own memory as I write this.*** Either Eric or Christina would pause what they were doing to come over to me during a contraction, and lay a hand on my shoulder. I was trying to notice when the baby moved, as Christina had told me that movement is an indicator that the baby is doing well, and if the baby is moving there is no need to check for a heartbeat. I hadn’t paid any attention to movement during my first labour, but now that I was trying to feel it I definitely noticed when the baby moved. The baby moved before Christina arrived, and I let her know. I felt the baby move again at 4:53 am.
I had been feeling like throwing up since eating that chocolate chip mint ice cream, and at 4:55 I threw up. I never throw up, so this was an uncommon and unpleasant experience for me. I threw up until I was dry heaving; luckily Christina had brought a bucket out from the bathroom and it was on the floor at my feet. I had been leaning on Christina with my arms around her neck during a contraction when I started throwing up, and she brought the bucket up to me. Then we went over the sink in the bathroom. At some point after this I asked Christina how far along she thought I was. I didn’t want an internal, and she didn’t want to give me false information based on her guesses of how far along I was, so at that time she didn’t tell me. Later she said that many women throw up as they are entering transition, and that I was probably about 8cm dilated at that time. But, some women throw up at 3cm, 5 cm, and 8 cm, so the throwing up was not necessarily a sure indicator.
My contractions were getting pretty intense at this point. It was sometime after this that I remember thinking, “Why did I think this was going to be so great?” I had been so excited about having a home birth, and I knew it was going to still be painful, but time erases the memory of the pain I had felt during Elias’ birth. I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep. I knew lying down would only make things worse, but I decided to try it anyway. I lay down on the futon in between contractions, and instead of trying to get up as a contraction was starting I just stayed there. That one really hurt! I didn’t stay lying down during a contraction again, although I would lie down between and then get up so I could cope with the pain during the contraction.
I drank quite a bit of water and apple juice while I was in labour, and I tried to eat some grapes. Christina had thoughtfully bought me some frozen grapes (I really liked eating frozen things during the pregnancy!). At 5:23 am I went pee on the toilet. Sitting on the toilet during contractions has never worked for me, so I didn’t stay there but got back up and went back to leaning on the washing machine. I really appreciated having the tulips there that my mom had brought; they helped to remind me of beauty in the midst of my pain.
I started to feel a bit like pushing soon after this, around 5:30 am. Christina asked me if I felt “pushy at the peak,” which is a good way to describe it. I didn’t feel like pushing during the whole contraction, but I had the urge to bear down in the middle of the contraction. I followed my body and just did what felt right. I started to really, really want to get in the tub, and if the tub wasn’t ready I wanted to get into the shower.
There had been some difficulty in hooking the hose up to the faucet in the sink in the bathroom, which I didn’t pay attention to, but Christina and Eric had both been busy trying to get the tub filled with water. One of them would always come back to me during a contraction, and I would instantly feel more relaxed as soon as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I asked Eric to call my mom and ask her to come, as things were getting pretty intense and if Elias woke up I wanted her to be there to look after him.
At 5:35 I got into the tub, and it was instant, warm relief! Of course not all the pain was taken away, but that first minute was intensely soothing. I thought I felt the baby move at around 5:36, but I couldn’t be sure. At 5:46 Christina asked if she could listen for the heartbeat, and used the fetoscope. She heard the heartbeat and it was around 120bpm – 130bpm, totally normal. At this point I was starting to really feel more like pushing, and there was a lot of pressure. I was hoping the bath would help to take the pressure away, but being in the tub during labour is not the same as relaxing in the tub when you’re not in labour! At one point I said, “It hurts,” and whimpered a bit. Christina said, “You’re doing so well.” Christina asked me if the contractions still hurt in front, and by 6:00 am they didn’t and I was fully pushing. Again, I just followed my body and did what felt right, without outside direction. I tried different positions in the tub, like kneeling and squatting. I was trying to find a position that would take advantage of the buoyancy of the water and help relieve the pressure. Christina suggested I lean back against the tub and squat, and this ended up being a good position for me.
I started wondering where my mom was, and asked Eric to call her again, which he did. She said she was just leaving the house.
Elias woke up sometime around 6:00 am, and Eric went upstairs to attend to him. We had the monitor on. Eric came back down and said Elias was back in bed. I told Eric to go get him, as I thought we were getting pretty close the baby being born. Elias came down, and was quite enchanted by the fish on the tub! Soon after this my mom arrived, and started talking to Elias. I asked them both to be quiet – I didn’t want any noise interrupting my concentration on coping with pushing.
To cope with the pushing contractions I vocalized strongly, in a higher pitch than when I was having dilating contractions. In between I would rest and ask for water to drink. Eric was in the tub with me at this point.
I put my hands down near my vagina so I could feel if the baby’s head came out. I felt the baby’s head, and then it went back in. Eric asked if he could touch the head, but I said no, since there was no head there to touch. With a few more pushes the baby’s head came again, and I told Eric he could feel it.
At 6:22 am I had a contraction and pushed and could feel the baby’s head coming out! Christina advised me to slow down, so I tried to hold back on the pushing so I wouldn’t tear, although it was very hard and I just wanted the baby out! I didn’t know if I had slowed down or not, as the baby’s body was born into Eric’s hands! He scooped the baby up out of the water and placed her on my chest. I felt pure joy, a moment of pure emotion, and I started crying as I looked at my sweet, beautiful baby! In that moment I was totally in the moment, totally myself, fully vulnerable and overcome with intense feelings of joy, delight, and relief.
A few moments later we looked and found out that we had a girl, a daughter! She was so peaceful, and just lay on my chest. I thought she was breathing, but she wasn’t crying, so I asked Christina just to be sure. Christina reassured me that our girl was fine. She let out a few little cries a couple of minutes after she was born. Eric was so happy too, and we both talked sweetly to our precious new daughter.
I invited Elias over to touch her, and he was very gentle with his new baby sister. I wanted a few photos of her when she was first born, so Christina and my mom took a few pictures. About twenty minutes after she was born, Eowyn started leaning toward my left side. I made sure my breast was out of the water, and supported her neck. She found my nipple, latched on, and started nursing!
Very soon after she started nursing (about three minutes) the placenta was born. I had wanted to stay in the water until the placenta was born. Christina told me she would like me to get out of the water soon so that she could see how much I was bleeding, so at 6:48 I got out of the tub, with Eowyn still nursing and still attached by the umbilical cord to the birthed placenta, which we put into a bucket. I went over to the futon and lay down on my side, with Eowyn still nursing. We snuggled in bed as a family for a bit, and Elias got to kiss and hug his new baby sister! Then my mom took Elias upstairs to get him some breakfast and give us some time to settle with Eowyn.
Eric cut the umbilical cord at 7 am, and Christina inspected the placenta. The placenta was a little bit small and had some calcification, but it wasn’t too small. Calcification is an indicator that the placenta was wearing out, which would explain why Eowyn was born two and half weeks early. The amniotic sac was broken right next to the placenta, where there were also some blood clots. This is unusual, as the sac usually breaks on the opposite side of where it is attached to the placenta. This shed some light on the bloody mucus plug when my water broke and the early delivery. Implantation had probably occurred very low in my uterus, close to my cervix, so that the placenta grew into the mucus plug. If this is what happened, then I would have had placenta previa marginalis, but not full placenta previa as the placenta was not covering my cervix. Eowyn had been head down for some time, and her head was probably against the placenta preventing more growth, which would account for the calcification. She was very engaged when my water broke, and so her head acted as a plug stopping any bleeding that might have happened from the torn vessels that were part of the mucus plug.
If I had had a routine ultrasound, which I didn’t want, the doctor who viewed it may have been concerned about a vaginal birth given the placement of the placenta, and recommended a c-section. I am so glad that I did not have an ultrasound! And I am so glad that I had Christina to assess me when I was in labour. If I had been actively bleeding she would have recommended we go to the hospital, but everything was fine and there were no symptoms that would cause alarm. I am glad that I had a healthy vaginal delivery without interventions, and that I had a health care professional I trusted to assist me. I have realized that I cannot have a doctor as my primary care giver for any of my subsequent pregnancies because I simply do not trust their recommendations for what they might consider necessary interventions.
It’s interesting that I had Braxton-Hicks contractions early in my pregnancy when I would do simple things like carry a relatively light basket of laundry down the stairs. I think my body was telling me to take it easy, possibly because of the placement of the placenta. I listened, and stopped doing things that gave me Braxton-Hicks or that made me feel uncomfortable.
I had some pretty severe afterpains while Eowyn was nursing, which I always find really annoying because they are just as bad as labour contractions but I am lying down nursing through them , so they are difficult to cope with. I have to breathe deep and slowly, but it’s still really painful. I took some cramp bark tincture, but that didn’t seem to have any effect so I took some ibuprofen.
I wanted Eowyn to stay right with me for at least an hour after she was born, so we didn’t weigh and measure her until 9:00 am! She was 7lbs 5 oz and 19 ¾ inches long. Even though she was born a little early she had no signs of prematurity. She was healthy, pink, and fast asleep after nursing for about half an hour, which is why we waited until she woke up to weigh and measure her.
I had a small one degree tear just inside my vagina, which I opted not to get stitched. I guess I did a pretty good job of slowing down, considering I had a third degree tear almost to my anus with Elias’ birth! Because I decided not get stitched I had to mostly lie down with my legs together for a week, which I thought was a good thing anyway to make sure I rested and bonded with Eowyn. Those first few days are so fleeting, and so precious.
I am overjoyed with the way Eowyn’s labour and birth went, and I feel empowered and confident in myself as a women through the experience. I feel satisfied that I was able to bring her into the world in the best environment possible, with dim lighting, gentle sounds, people that I knew and trusted, the loving hands of her daddy to catch her, and the comfort of my skin and my breast in the first hours of her life.
